Improved hoisting-apparatus



intrd ,fettina gstellt @titille J. VAUGHAN MERRICK AND W'. H. MERRICK, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Letters Patent No. 94,429, dated August 31, 1869.

IMPROVED HOISTING-APPARATUS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same- To all whom t't may concern:

Be it known that we, J. VAUGHAN Mannion and WILLLiM H. Mnnnick, both of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Im provements in Hoisting-Apparatus; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same.

Our invent-ion relates to an improvement on, or addition to the hoisting-apparatus for which Letters Patent were granted to us on the 9th day ot' J une, 1868, and our present invent-ion, which is applicable to inclined planes having two tracks, and to duplex hoisting-apparatus having two cages, consists in causing one car or cage, by the mechanism hereinafter described,or any equivalent to the same, to arrest the other car or cage, should the hoisting-rope of the latter break.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to make and use our iuventionwe will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which forms a part of this specification, and-in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of an inclined plane, having two tracks, and showing our invention;

Figure 2, a View of the inclined pla-ne and cars, looking in the direction of the arrow;

Figure 3, an end view of one of the cars, drawn to an enlarged scale;

Figure 4, a vertical .section on the line l-2, tig. 3;

Figure 5, a plan view of the operating-mechanism attached to the car; and

Figures 6 and '7, diagrams, illustrating modifications of our invention.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Although we have selected, for illustrating our invention, an inclined plane, with double track, for hoisting one car or series of cars, while another is being lowered, it should be distinctly understood in the outset, that our invention is not limited to inclined planes, but may be applied to all duplex hoistilig-apparatus, whether inclined or vertical.

A and A' are the rails ot onel track of the inclined plane, and B and l5' thel rails of the adjacent track, these rails being adapted to thc flanged wheels of the cars D-and D.

v A continuous rack, E, with teeth on both sides, is secured to the track between the rails, or, as will be explained hereafter, two racks may be secured to the track, so that the guiding-pulleys for the hoisting-rope may be arrange-d between them.

To the front ot' each car is secured a substantial frame, F, carrying two vertical spindles G G, to each ofwhich is secured a lever, Il, as well as an arm, l, which is furnished with teeth, adapted to those ou the rack E, these two arms forming jaws, which, when operated in the manner described hereafter, serve to grip the rack, and arrest the car to which the abovedescribed mechanism is attached.

To the long arms d el of the lever H, is connected the hoisting-rope' J, in the manner illustrated in iig. 5, and to the short arms of the, same levers of one car, D, on one track, is connected the rope or chain K, which passes round the guide-pulleys e e at the head of the inclined plane, andis secured to the short arms ot similailevers of the cat on the other track.

It has not been deemed necessary to illustrate .any specitic hoisting-gear, as this may be varied without in any way adecting our invention.

Should the hoisting-rope ot' one or the other ot' the cars break, that of the c ar D, for instance, the control of the levers H H of that car by the rope ceases, and the levers are at once under the control of the rope K and car D, and the tendency of the latter to descend the inclined plane, causes the toothed arms I to move from the position shown in black lines, tig. 5, Where they are clear of the rack E, to that shown in red lines, where the teeth of the said arms 't those of the rack,.a`nd the car D will be at once arrested.

In like manner, should the hoisting-rope of the car D be broken, the car D will act as a counterbalance toprevent, through the medium of the mechanism described, thedescent of the said car D.

It will be seen thatour present invention is closely allied to that for which Letters Patent were granted to us on the 9th day of June, 1868. In thatpatent, however, a counterweight was used for operating the devices for arresting acage, should thehoisting-ropc break, whereas, in our present invent-ion, one car or set of cars, on one track, is in reality the counterweight for the other car or cars on the other track, or in other words, the car or cars of one track are caused to arrest those on the other track, should the hoistingrope of the latter cars break. It will be evident that (as before remarked) our present invention maybe applied to vertical hoisting-apparatus, on which two cages are used, one ascending while the other is descending, the 4arresting-mechanism of one cage being connected to that of theother cage, in the manner described above.

In many instances, the guiding-pulleys for the hoisting-ropes, used on inclined planes, would not permit the placing of the double rack midway between the opposite rails of the track. In such cases, where two hoisting-ropes for each track, one on each side, would be impracticable, two single racks, E E, onek on each side of the guide-pulley, for the hoisting-rope, may be used, as shown in the modification, iig. 6, which will be readily understood without description. If desired, independent racks may be dispensed with, and

teeth may be formedlo'n the rails themselves, the arresting-m`echa11isn1 being modiied accordingly, or vthe racks, although to be preferred as determined means of arresting the ears when, the rope breaks, may be dispensed with, and levers, with cam-like short arms, instead of toothed arms, Imay be made to grip a smooth bar or rail, asshown in fig. 7 in fact, the arresting-mechanism may be altered and modied in many respects, withoutdeparting from the main features of lour invention. Y Y Y Wer-therefore claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- Duplex hoisting apparatus, inclined or Vertical, in

which one ear or` hoisting-cage is caused, by the mechanism herein described, or any equivalent to the same, to arrest the other car-or cage, should the hoisting-rope of the latter break, all substantially as herein set forth. l

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of -two subscribing 

